Jennifer Aniston In Trouble For Gay Slur: Because Homophobia Is Good Box Office Unlike Racism
UH-OH! Jennifer Aniston is in a bit of trouble at the moment. No, it’s nothing to do with those thousands of episodes of Friends where she nearly had the whole world’s eye out thanks to a lack of bra under her vest, but rather, she’s said a homophobic slur.
Naturally, she’s isn’t some raging gay-basher, but rather, it is something she’s said in character.
Aniston plays a seductive dentist (sigh) called Dr Julia Harris in the new film, Horrible Bosses. In it, she tells her dental assistant:
“You’re starting to sound like a little faggot there, Dale.”
People are outraged for some reason. And so, here comes common sense in the form of co-writer John Francis Daley, who defends the comment, saying:
“She is a horrible person, so I think when it is coming out of her mouth, it is understandably offensive.”
Daley’s writing partner, Jonathan Goldstein, says:
Jen herself ‘didn’t have any objections’ to making the comment. She wanted to dive into this villain with both feet, and she did’
Of course, objecting to something an actor’s character says is pretty dumb. It’s like chiding someone for being a Nazi sympathiser while playing a German general in World War II. And it’s been done before, notably by Jen’s old PR-fed lover Vince Vaughn in the film The Dilemma. Might it be that gay slights are inserted in order to offend and thus case a media shit storm that gets people in the creative industries talking about the film?
Maybe the line could be altered to:
“You’re starting to sound like a little Paki there, Dale.”
Or:
“You’re starting to sound like a little nigger Jew-boy there, Dale.”
She’s horrible boss, right? Or is she only horrible to people who won’t spoil her career?
Of course, if a film is relying on stupid people and their stupid complaining about stuff, it might not be all that good…
Posted: 8th, July 2011 | In: Film, Key Posts Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
